Letters
by midnightlily105
Summary: After Gale leaves to District 2, Katniss finds herself missing his company. She writes him letters in hopes of keeping in touch.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I read Mockingjay and I just wasn't satisfied with how it ended. Eventually, this will lead up to be how I wanted it to end.

_Dear, Gale_

_I had the hardest of times trying to write this but, I finally found the words. Took me two months… I'm sorry that we've seemed to grow apart. I didn't know that my volunteering for Prim would break us apart like this but I wouldn't take it back for anything. I had to take care of Prim, had to keep her out of the arena. I'm sure you would've done the same thing for Rory._

_I'm sorry about what you saw happen between me and Peeta; I assure you that none of it really meant anything. While I can't really tell you about what my true feelings are for you, I assure you that I don't love Peeta; well, at least not romantically. You of all people should know this…_

_I hope we can begin to talk again, even if it's just about small things. Well write me back if you're not too mad at me. If not, I understand._

_Sorry,_

_Katniss_


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey Gale,_

_You haven't replied yet… But I wanted to say hi anyways. Yesterday they tore down the fence that surrounded twelve. I wonder if they've gotten rid of the ones that surround the other districts. On the upside I finally got to go hunting; legally that is. I more or less just checked all of your snares and traps; they carried a pretty good haul. There were a few rabbits and a couple of squirrels. I gave everything to Greasy Sae though, because I really didn't have much use for it. She surprised me and gave me a small pot of stew this morning. It's your favorite kind, the one with the rabbit meat and potatoes and carrots._

_Enough of me; how are you? How are things going in 2? I hope you've been enjoying your new job and have met some new people. Well, I don't want to keep you for too long because I know that you're probably busy._

_Katniss_


	3. Chapter 3

_Katniss,_

_Sorry I took so long. Just to get the serious things out of the way, I would've done the same thing for Rory and no, I can't blame you for wanting to protect Prim. I kind of wish I hadn't seen everything that went on between you and Peeta. You say that none of it mattered but it did to me. I don't think that you can understand the level of jealousy that I had towards this guy. I was always there for you Katniss, always and then Peeta came out of nowhere and gains all of your affections. Can you understand why I was so upset? And why is it so hard for you to tell me how you really feel. Are you so sure that it's just going to break me, because you should know by now that I'm stronger than that Katniss?_

_Other than that, I've been alright. The new job is okay. The people are… _

_It's good to hear that the fence is gone, so far they've taken down a few but they haven't gotten to the fence here. Did you find anything other than the squirrels and rabbits? As for the stew, did you save me any? If not, that's a shame._

**A/N: hey guys! Do you think I should leave all of the chapters in letter form or should I add in some other things like what Katniss is doing? Let me know!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Well I didn't really get too much of an answer on whether or not I should add in what Gale and Katniss are doing so I decided to just go ahead and keep it in the format that it's been in so far. I figured it was a little too late to change formats. Read and enjoy.**

_Hey Gale,_

_Sorry….. I didn't save you any soup. It was so good I ate it all in one sitting. _

_So far I haven't seen much other than the usual animals but I suspect that it won't be too much longer until the bigger animals get brave and begin to venture over. I hope that by then we'll have some form of protection. Out of all of the people that are actually living here, I am the only one that can provide actual protection. _

_So what have you been doing outside of work? I've just been looking through the book of plants that my mother and father started; I've been trying to find new things to use for food. I've started up a little group with a few people and we've been working together to gather food and then we combine it all and split it so everyone has something to eat. It's been working pretty well so far and Greasy Sae has managed to teach me to cook a few meals. I feel really cheesy saying it but I'm proud of myself._

_Can't wait to hear from you again,_

_Katniss_


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey Katniss,_

_I can't believe you didn't save me any soup. _

_I think it's great that you've began that little "food troop." You're going to help out a lot of people with that. As for the whole thing with the animals, don't worry about it. The larger animals won't come over for a couple of months, they're not brave enough and by the time they do; it'll be summer. So there'll be plenty of food running around for them, you won't have to start thinking about that until it nears winter and all of the animals begin to hibernate. Maybe you can begin to teach a few people to use weapons. Who knows, one may turn out to be pretty good. Just give it a shot. Off to work now._

_Gale_


	6. Chapter 6

_Thanks for the idea Gale,_

_But uh, I think I'll need more help the next time I decide to teach again. You wouldn't believe how horrible these people are! I've had three people shoot themselves in the foot with arrows! Others have tried with all their might to throw spears or knives and well, they didn't land more than three feet away. I couldn't keep a straight face; it was hilarious to watch, I wish you would've been able to see them. Thankfully, no one was hurt all too badly thanks to the new leather boots that everyone has now. Other than that we're doing pretty well here even though our population is down to about 100. We've been able to put up a couple of extra houses and we've received furniture from district 1 to furnish them. The funniest thing of all though is that the Hob is open and is running already. I wish you were here to see how everything was changing. . . Well I have to go. Bye._


	7. Chapter 7

_Hey Katniss,_

_It took you a while to reply. Wow, it sounds like 12 is back on its way to being fully functional again, even with the population problem. I don't have a lot of time to write today because I have a few things to take care of before lunch but I expect to hear from you again, and soon._


	8. Chapter 8

_Hi Gale,_

_I'm sitting on our rock right now, the one that overlooks the valley; it's where I read all of the letters I get from you. I've been thinking about you a lot lately. . . What would you say if I told you that I missed you?_


	9. Chapter 9

Well Katniss we both know what I would be thinking but I can't really say for sure what I would say. I guess it would depend. Why are you asking?

Gale


	10. Chapter 10

Gale,

You're really trying to make me say this aren't you? You should know by now that things never end well when people try to force me to do something that I'm not ready to do. I know you want to hear those words but I just can't bring myself to say it right now.

Katniss


	11. Chapter 11

Katniss,

I know. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. Sorry.

Gale


	12. Chapter 12

Hey Katniss,

It's been a while since you've written back. Listen I'm sorry if you felt that I backed you into a corner; I just felt that I wouldn't hear you say it unless I did things that way. I didn't mean in any way to make you angry . . . If you are angry after all. Sorry, again.

Gale


	13. Chapter 13

Katniss really,

Are you that mad at me that you've decided to ignore me and not answer my letters? I said I'm sorry; what more do I have to do?

**A/N: Sorry guys, I know they're really, really short.**


	14. Chapter 14

_Calm down Gale!_

_Don't think that I'm mad at you because I'm not, not in the least bit. I caught some weird form of the flu and without my mother here to help me or give me any form of care it's taken me longer than usual to recover. I've spent the last- I'm not actually too sure- in some sort of a feverish haze. I actually just came out of it a few days ago and finally had the strength to get out of bed and do a few things today. I'm sorry for worrying you._

_Another thing, well, do you think you'll come to visit soon? Even if it's only for a day or two; I'd like to have you around again. Until next time,_

_Katniss_


	15. Chapter 15

_Hey_

_It's been three weeks. I wrote you a letter a week, just like I've been doing. Have you really been sick that long? How are you doing? I hope you're feeling better._

_To answer your question, no, I will not come to visit district 12. _

_There is a good reason for this; I do not need to visit because I've decided to move back. Actually, I'm already here. I know you're probably either rolling your eyes or getting pissed at me for lying to you, but I swear to you that I'm not. I just got here this morning; that's why you haven't seen me around. I wrote this letter and left it in your mailbox myself. I know you still don't believe me._

_Turn around Katniss_

Katniss' point of view

This idiot. What did he think he was pulling? I know this letter had to be a load of crap, there was no way possible that Gale could here with me not knowing it. I was always all over this town; if he were here I'd know. But just to prove him wrong I turned and…

Oh god. He had been there this whole time, just about three yards away, studying me. And I hadn't even heard him walk up. I guess I forgot how quietly he could walk. His arms were crossed and had this stupid grin on his face that I wanted to slap off. Gale had done something pretty big and he knew it. And I hated it. I hated it because it had taken him so long to do this and I hated him just because he was still there for me after everything. I knew that I had done things that should've kept him from ever speaking to me again, from even looking me but dammit! There he was, staring at me with that look still in his eyes, the look that meant that he still cared for me and forgave me. It made me sick; why should I deserve another chance? I had been selfish, I hurt him, Peeta and so many other people and honestly I know that I would deserve it if I had to spend every moment of the rest of my life alone stuck in some dark pit in the middle of nowhere. But I wouldn't because he was still there. Even if his bomb was the one that killed Prim, my beautiful, young, innocent, sister; it still wouldn't amount out to anything next to what I had done. I had ruined his life.

So why was he still here? He was staring at me with the oddest expression on his face and I was about to ask him why, when I realized that I was crying. The tears had started to leak from my eyes without my knowing and now I felt pathetic. This is not how I wanted things to happen. I wanted to walk away from it all. Something inside me snapped though, I was sick of running away from my problems, tired of hiding from things that bothered me. I had done this all of my life and where had it gotten me? It was time to act like an adult and face the consequences.

"Gale, I'm sorry. Really sorry," I said finding myself unable to finish my sentence because I was bawling so hard. Dang! Could I get anything right today? I was starting to make that weird hiccupping noise that I always made whenever I cried too hard. Gale closed the small distance between us, the smile and knowing looks gone and pulled me into a hug. All I could do was hold on to him tightly until I could calm myself long enough to speak.

"Are you okay?" Gale asked removing his cheek from its resting spot on the top of my head. I nodded and looked up at him. He seemed genuinely worried at the moment and I can't say that I could blame him. This was the first time that he's seen me in months and I had an emotional breakdown not even five minutes in.

"I'm sorry, I'm a wreck, I know." I said wiping at my nose.

"Well it's not what I expected but I can't say that it was all bad." When I looked at him quizzically he just grinned. "How else would I have been able to hold you that close for that long?" I started to laugh and rested my head against his chest again.

"I missed you Gale."

"Missed you too Catnip." He said softly.

"Let's go find you a room to stay in."

"Where?"

"My house of course." I said rolling my eyes as I grabbed Gale by the hand and dragged him towards our small town. As if I would let him stay anywhere else.

**A/N: This was awesome! I had fun writing this chapter and I hope you guys enjoyed reading it. Please review, I love ya all!**

**Bella =D**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Yay! Thank you happy readers! The story continues in alternating views.**

Gale's Point of View

Katniss took me to her house and showed me to a room that was a few doors down from her own. She said that it had never been used; I guess that would account for how neat things were in there. It was a pretty big room, only filled with a bed, dresser and a desk. The window had a great view of the woods. I couldn't really complain, Katniss had chosen well. I just found it strange to be in her house like this. The only times that I had actually come here I had been in the kitchen or the living room.

Not knowing what to do with myself I went down the hall to see what Katniss was doing. I knocked on her door but she didn't answer. I peeked inside. She wasn't there. I went downstairs but she wasn't anywhere to be found. Where had this girl run off to now? I sat down on the couch and looked out of the window, within a few minutes I could see her coming up the path. She closed the door and spotted me on the couch.

"Oh I thought you'd still be upstairs unpacking." She said taking off her boots.

"Nope, I'm done. Where'd you go to?" She handed me a small container and grinned shyly at me. I raised a brow and opened the container. One of the most heavenly scents ever wafted up to me. The stew, I automatically knew it was the stew, my favorite stew.

"You, my friend are awesome!" I said smiling at her. She took the pot from me and started to walk away.

"Where are you going now?" I called to her.

"Getting bowls." She said peeking from the kitchen her grey eyes sparkling.


	17. Chapter 17

Katniss' Point of View

I ran my fingers through my wet hair and began to braid it into its normal braid. I went downstairs and made a small breakfast and was setting the table when Gale came downstairs looking totally disheveled and still half asleep.

"Mornin."

"Have a seat." I motioned towards the table and went to get the food. He sat down and sighed contently when I put the plate in front of him. As usual, we ate in silence, but once we were done Gale asked me about what we were going to do for the day. I replied that I had to go out and hunt for a bit and then continue in my teaching. He seemed psyched about hunting but not so much the teaching. He thought that we should put it off for today; and for some weird reason I agreed.

We had taken down two small deer and my game bag was now bulging with the weight of the rabbits, squirrels, and birds that I shot, or were unfortunate enough to walk into one of Gale's snares. It was a great day for hunting; and having my old hunting buddy back had helped a lot. At this rate, we wouldn't really need to do much hunting until way later next week. We had gone a little further than usual seeing that now there was no threat of us being lynched for hunting now. We found a lot of bushes with wild berries and had even collected a substantial amount of nuts. I looked up at Gale to find him gazing down at me, a ghost of a smile playing at his lips. I could feel us falling back into our old relationship easily. "What?" He pointed behind us where we had a little mountain lion cub following us. Great.

"Catnip." He replied plainly with a short chuckle. I socked him in the arm playfully and shook my head.

**A/N: Okay guys, I know it's been a long time, and the chapter is really short but I'm having a bit of writer's block. I promise, the next one will be longer.**


	18. Chapter 18

_Later that day_

I rolled onto my back and stared up at the dark ceiling, rethinking the events of today. After spending the day back in the wood, we went to Greasy Sae's to drop off our haul, and then we made our way back to the house. Katniss slowed down a few feet away and it wasn't until I looked up that I understood why. Peeta was standing on the porch. She fell behind me as we neared the house. Peeta's eyes narrowed when he noticed me and I subconsciously took a protective stance in front of her.

"Katniss, can I talk to you?" He asked in a rough voice, either he hadn't talked in a while or he had been screaming a lot lately. "Go ahead." I said.

"Without him." He said with a certain amount of acidity and glared at me. Katniss glanced at me; I could see the uncertainty in her eyes. "Do you want me to go?" I asked she nodded indecisively before saying, "I'll be okay, go ahead and go inside." I did, but I lingered in the living room where I could see the door, I still didn't trust this guy. It was quiet for a minute or so, and then I could hear their voices rising. Before I could even go see what was going on I heard a crash.

"Gale!" I heard Katniss scream before her voice choked off. I ran outside to find Katniss on the ground, Peeta on top of her, his hands clenched around her neck. He had that deranged look in his eye that I had spotted a few times while we were on our mission in the capitol. She punched him in the face a few good times but he still hadn't loosened his grip on her neck. Her face was turning blue. I grabbed Peeta and wrenched him off of her. I couldn't allow this to happen, couldn't let him hurt _my_ Katniss. "Oh my god. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Katniss I'm sorry." He said staring at his hands. "Get away from her!" I growled when he tried to come closer. I helped Katniss up when she said that she was okay and took her inside. We iced her neck and she went to bed. She's been there since.

I wanted to kick myself, how could I have been stupid enough to leave her alone with him? After the many times that he's tried to hurt her, I left her alone with him. And he harmed her. It was entirely my fault.

There was a soft knock on my door and Katniss peeked inside. "You awake Gale?" She called softly."Yeah." I said turning towards the door. She was standing there, braiding and unbraiding her dark hair in her hands. "I can't sleep." She said plainly. No doubt that she was in pain; I could hear it in her voice. Either that or she was thinking about her time in the Hunger Games. There had been a few nights like this since I've arrived. I was just glad that she hadn't woken up screaming again. "Come here." I said patting the bed. Katniss hesitated for a moment but came to lie down next to me. "I'm sorry about today. I shouldn't have left you alone with Peeta." She shrugged and turned to face me. "I shouldn't have let you leave. I had the feeling something would happen but I asked you to leave anyways."

"No, it's really my fault. Please don't argue with me on this one." Katniss nodded and closed her eyes. Neither of us said anything for a long time. We hadn't had any quiet moments like this in a while, it was so peaceful and Katniss looked so beautiful with the moon falling on her face. I couldn't resist, I reached out and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear and began to gently stroke her hair. After a few minutes I just stopped.

"Why did you stop?" Katniss asked sleepily, her grey eyes meeting mine.

"Sorry." I said and began to run my fingers through her hair again. Before I knew it her breathing had become soft and even and she was asleep.

**A/N: I hope you guys like this one. I do! But seriously I spent like three hours staring at the screen last night thinking "What do I put?" Review Please =D**

**Bells**


	19. Chapter 19

I walked amongst my pupils and fixed their postures as needed. When I felt that they all had perfected their posture I had them put down their bows and quickly bring them back up again. As expected, more than half of them had fallen out of stance. We repeated this over, and over until everyone was complaining. "Ms. Everdeen can't we shoot?" One man called. Automatically my face wiped itself void of all emotion, but on the inside I was laughing. I walked over to him and stood behind him. His stance was bad, he was slouching, and he wasn't even holding his bow correctly. "Hit that target over there." He looked to where I was pointing. The target was only about 3 yards away. Arrogantly, he put his arms up too stiffly and pulled the arrow back in the string; too loosely. He let the arrow go and it landed a mere two feet away. I looked at him again, the arrogant expression was gone from his face and it had been replaced by shame. I couldn't help but let the smug smile slip onto my face as I walked back towards the front of the group. "Anyone else want to object my teaching methods?" I called lightly. No one answered, no one even moved. "Good, now continue with you r exercise. You can't shoot a bow if you can't even hold it correctly." I said harshly giving a pointed glance to my know-it-all student. I checked back to see how Gale's group was doing with setting snares, they seemed to be doing okay. Gale caught my eye and gave me an amused grin; obviously he had enjoyed the little show as much as I did. His expression grew hard and he motioned behind me. I turned to see Peeta walking in my direction.

Gale came over to my side. "Keep practicing!" He yelled to both of our groups and we walked out to the meadow to meet Peeta. There was a stale silence between us. Gale and I were set on edge, our hunting skills showing in our slightly defensive modes. I wasn't allowing Peeta to choke me for a third time. No, I'd take him down before I let that happen again.

"Katniss," Peeta began. I just looked at him, I had nothing to say. He didn't continue speaking; he was obviously waiting for me to reply.

"What?" I said the tension of the air washed over me.

"I wanted to talk to you. But it's kind of hard to do with Gale glaring at me."

"Yeah well I'm not going to leave, not after the stunt you pulled last week." Gale said with a humorless laugh.

"If you're going to talk, then talk Peeta; I don't have time for this." I said crossing my arms. His hands closed into tight fists and he took a step away from me. He was struggling but I could see the real Peeta emerging. "I'm sorry Katniss. I'm really trying to fix things but I still have trouble deciphering what's real and what's not. I didn't mean to hurt you." He stopped and shut his eyes, when he opened them, the boy with the bread was back; if only for the moment. "I really miss you Katniss." He said this with such longing that it almost broke my heart.

Beside me Gale snorted. Peeta turned towards Gale, the boy with the bread, the one with the soft, gentle kisses was gone; leaving the crazed, anger driven, capital created Peeta in its wake. "This is exactly why I don't like having you around. You can't take me seriously. You've just got it in your god damned that you're better than me."

"Well of course, I'm not the one that's strangled her and nearly killed on more than one occasion! You don't even deserve this from Katniss." Gale yelled. The tension between them was so tense that you could've cut it with a knife. Now that I was out of the conversation, I was starting to feel uncomfortable. I was getting a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Guys," I said tentatively trying to calm them down but they kept on going on about me as if I weren't there.

"I know that I don't deserve her! I'm not asking her to be with me, I just want to make amends with her. That's all! And you don't deserve her either." Gale's expression turned deadly. It was a good thing that looks couldn't kill. "You haven't been there for her. You weren't there for her the nights that she laid awake thinking about her dad, or the nights that she's awaken screaming. You weren't there when she needed a shoulder to cry on because you were too busy being angry at her for something that she couldn't control. You're just as bad as me, if not worse." Gale stared at Peeta for a moment before he lunged at him. In the blink of an eye they were throwing punches and ended up on the ground wrestling. My stomach flipped. I had to stop them! I don't know why, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to stand it if either of them hurt the other. I didn't know what to do though. I couldn't just jump into the middle of their fight, but then again, what choice did I have? Just as I was about to pull Peeta and Gale apart, a fist flew into my stomach with such great force that the air was knocked out of my lungs. I felt like I had just been hit by one of the capitol trains. I crumbled to the ground and clenched my arms around my torso. I should've seen this coming. I don't know how things kept catching my off-guard lately. I became aware of Peeta and Gale on either side of me, asking me if I was okay. I took a painful breath in and nodded. I made myself get up- even though doing so made me want to puke- and turned to Gale, "Take over my class okay; make them do snares. Send your group home."

"Katniss-" they both called at the same time. I shook my head in dismissal. I really didn't care to know who had done it this time. I began to walk away, away from the two sources of my problems and told myself that I had to do something about this. It was obvious that all three of us couldn't coexist in the same place.

**A/N: Well, I finally got over my writer's block. Was it too much drama? Did it make you simultaneously hate both boys? Do you love Peeta for trying to connect, or is it Gale that has your heart for trying to protect Katniss? Please Review and let me know.**


	20. Chapter 20

I watched Katniss walk away. It was horrible to watch; she looked like she could barely move without hurting but she still put on her brave face and left on her own. She didn't want any help; I could see that very clearly. I turned to Peeta and I could see that the blood had left his face. He looked the way I felt.

"Do you know who hit her?" He asked in a quiet voice. I shook my head; I wasn't sure. I couldn't even exactly remember what had happened at that moment, everything seemed kind of well, blurry I guess.

"We have to stop Peeta. We can't keep fighting each other like this; we've got to find some other way to solve this." I said thinking of how things had escaladed from Katniss just being hurt emotionally to her being hurt physically. Peeta nodded and we both agreed that we would try to work something out after I finished working with Katniss' group because I knew she'd be even more pissed with me if I blew it off.

I unlocked the door and stepped inside after Peeta. I went upstairs to see if Katniss was in her room, she wasn't. Now that I thought about it, everything looked the same way it did when we left this morning. And if Katniss had come home, she would've left the door unlocked for me. "Katniss?" I called looking around. No answer. "Peeta she's not here!" I called making my way down the stairs. Peeta looked up at me. "She's not here. She never made it home." We immediately set out in search of Katniss. We searched every place that we thought that she would be in; our rock, the meadow, her pond. Everywhere, Peeta and I looked everywhere.

There was still no sign of Katniss; I started to panic. Where could she be? Had she gotten lost along the way; picked up by someone? Or had an animal. . . No, she would take an animal down before it could attack her; but then again she was injured, and she didn't have her arrows or any weapons with her when she left. "Gale, why don't we just go back to the house? It's getting dark." I looked up at the sky to see the last of the light waning into the dark of the night. I hadn't even noticed that so much time had passed. Reluctantly, I turned and followed Peeta back towards the town.

**A/N: sorry if the chapter sucked guys.**


	21. Chapter 21

I took each breath in painfully and forced myself to take another step. I was almost there. _Just a little further now_ I kept telling myself. And eventually I made it. I looked up at the old oak tree; the house was still fully hidden in the branches of the tree. I would be able to stay here for a while. I started to climb the tree, placing my feet in the runes that my father had so skillfully crafted. They were easy to use, yet not noticeable to the eye unless you knew what you were looking for. I hadn't remembered it being such a long climb, but then again, I hadn't been out here since I was young; a long time ago it had been. I collapsed onto the bed and welcomed the comfort of the straw mattress. For the whole night and all of the next day, I stayed in bed, in a strange sleep-like state of limbo. Every time I woke up I was hit with a pain so intense that I closed my eyes and was out again. I don't quite know if I was passing out or not, but I just knew that in sleep, the pain disappeared. When I woke up the next morning, thin rays of sunlight were falling on my face. I could hear the birds one by one begin to sing their sweet morning melody. I reached out and stretched, feeling a slight pulling sensation and then a little pain as I did so. It still hurt, but not as bad as two days ago so I assumed that I hadn't attained any serious injuries. I shuffled over to the window and stared out at the leaves swaying gently in the autumn wind and the river that was rolling along indolently a little ways off. I needed to get some food and water, just enough to last me a few days.

I filled the three water jugs that I kept in storage and then went around looking for something that I could eat. This far into the forest, you would expect that it would be easy to find something to eat, but it wasn't. With the weather cooling down and the season starting to turn towards winter, the animals were starting to store or eat whatever they could find. They beat me to most of the available food sources. I found a mint bush though, and filled my pockets with the leaves; it would make for a wonderful tea later. After about an hour and a half I gave up and started to walk back towards the house. I was starting to feel a little tired and I was sure that I wouldn't find anything if I hadn't already. I picked up my bottles of water and placed them in a basket at the base of the tree and began to climb. Once I was up, I pulled on a rope and the basket that held my water appeared at the window. I pulled that in and looked around. This place could use a little cleaning up. So that's what I spent most of the day doing. I washed and hung the sheets and the small floor rug and the curtains and hung them to dry. I managed to get most of the dust out of the mattress. I then swept the floors and dusted and arranged all of the little knickknacks in the room. When I finally stopped to take a break and lay in the middle of the floor, I realized how much of my father was still in this small house in the trees. I could see his craftsmanship in the pictures of animals that he had carved into the wooden walls; the rug that he had picked out specifically for this place; the quilt that covered the bed that we had lain beneath together on many occasions. Why hadn't I remembered this before? This would've brought me so much comfort if only I had remembered, and if I had been brave enough to venture this far out. Even with Gale at my side we had never come this far. Maybe I had really forgotten about it, or maybe I had just wanted to keep something to myself; something that I could call my own in a world where I had nothing. Whatever the reason was, I was glad that it was still here. I pulled everything back up the tree and placed it back in its spot and finally began to feel at home. I chewed on a few mint leaves and pulled the quilt tight around me. What was I to do with Peeta and Gale? It seemed that when all three of us were together somebody got hurt somehow. When I was with Peeta, Gale became angered, and distant. I enjoyed the time that I had been able to spend with Peeta, but now that he had become so crazed from his ordeal with the capitol, I was sure that we would never be able to be together; plus I knew I didn't really love Peeta, not that way at least. When I was with Gale I felt so strong, and assured, but every time I saw Peeta when I was with Gale, he could never seem to look me in the eye and no matter how hard he tried to hide it, I could see his pain. How could I keep both of them happy? The only solution that I seemed to come up with would be for me to stay away. I didn't want to do this, but this seemed to be the only solution that I could come up with. I rested my head on my pillow; I would figure something out.


	22. Chapter 22

**Katniss' P.O.V.**

I was so confused, what was I to do? Should I stay out in the forest? I could provide for myself if the weather didn't get too cold. But what if it did? What was I going to do with no heat and no constant food source? I really didn't want to go back to the village just to create more problems but I really didn't think that things were going to work out in my favor if I decided to stay out here. And as much as I was feeling at home, I knew that I was going to eventually be needed for something in the village. But should I stay for a little while longer or should I not delay things and just go. I sighed before climbing down the tree and started to walk in the direction of the village.

I thought I didn't want to go back to the village because of the problems that would be caused between Peeta, Gale and I but I guess I was wrong. Peeta seemed to be okay. On my way through the market I noticed Peeta off at one of the stands with Delly. It wasn't the fact that he was with her because I was aware of the fact that they had been friends since they were babies and she had been one of the few people that didn't make him crazed after his ordeal with the capitol but it was, it was the fact that he was holding her. Had his arm around her waist, then he looked at her and kissed her. Kissed her . . . and then smiled at her. It was the kind of smile that he always saved for me. Not that I cared, I mean it gave me one less thing to worry about . . . To make matters worse, Delly saw me right as I was going to leave.

"Oh! Katniss! You're okay!" She exclaimed pulling me into a hug. Delly was nice and not once had I ever heard her say anything bad about me but now was not the time.

"Yeah, I just needed a little time away." I said with a half-hearted smile. "I see that you and Peeta are busy and I don't want to keep you."

"Nonsense; Peeta, look who's here!" Peeta did a double take before waving and saying that he was happy that I was okay. I waved back and left.

**Gale's P.O.V. **

I looked out of the window and sighed. Almost three weeks had gone by and there was no sight of Katniss. I had looked nearly everywhere that I could think of and I couldn't even find a trace of her. I had nearly given up all hope. I turned away disgustedly as Peeta and Delly walked past, hand in hand. It was amazing how Delly had seemed to step in at the right moment and Peeta had nearly forgotten about Katniss and the fact that he had ever "loved" her. I couldn't take it, seeing him happy and me not being able to because one of the few things in life that I cherished was gone. If only, I hadn't always been at wits end with Peeta, if only I hadn't provoked him. _If only, if only, if only_, that was all the kept going through my mind. It was all my fault that Katniss was gone, I deserved everything that was happening to me. If only I could see her again, I would clear things up. I would change, that was for sure, but I had already gotten a second chance and I screwed that up too. They say "third time's a charm" right? Well, I didn't know if I would ever get that chance and all I could do was just think about how sorry I was.

I had gone to sit in the kitchen for a while. There was a cup of coffee that Sae had made for me this morning. I had reheated it but had yet to drink it. Honestly, I didn't even really like coffee; I guess I just kept the cup in hand because I wanted to feel like I had something to hold on to. I had held on to it pretty much all day and the sun was waning now. I decided to finally dump it in the sink and go up to my room for the night. I was rinsing out my cup when I heard the front door close. I peeked in the living room and saw Katniss. My thoughts were going at a million miles an hour and there were so many things that I wanted to say to her but all that came out was, "I'm sorry."

"I know." Katniss said and started up the stairs. "I'm going to be in my room for a while." She called. It wasn't the reunion I was hoping for and I didn't get to say what I had wanted but this would have to do for now. Something was bothering Katniss but I didn't want to bother her about it because she looked like she was dead tired and on the brink of tears. She would come to me when she was ready to talk about it.

**A/N: Hey guys Bells here. I changed my pen name. I know it's been a while. Sorry**


	23. Chapter 23

I showered and dressed in something comfortable. I sat in my room for awhile until I was feeling a little better, then I went to go say hello to Gale. I hadn't meant to totally ignore him earlier but I really needed to be on my own so I could think. I found him downstairs staring out of the window. It was snowing.

"Hey." I said sitting on the couch opposite of his chair. He never turned his attention from the window.

"Feeling better?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me you were okay?" Gale said after a long few minutes of silence. He was looking at me and all of the emotions were jumbled up and so strong, I had to look away.

"I just. . . I needed time to think without disruptions."

"You couldn't have sent a note or something? Two and a half weeks Katniss; I was out of my mind looking for you." He said a little too calmly. This was strange coming from Gale. Usually by now he would be red in the face and yelling. I half expected him to get up and start lecturing me about how stupid my choice to leave had been, but he didn't.

"I'm sorry. I just needed to get away from it all. I won't do it again though. It's just. . ." I stopped. I didn't want to say any of this. Gale gently lowered himself onto the couch next to me and wrapped his arms around me. "It's okay. You don't have to explain yourself right now. I'm just glad that you're back and that you're alright." I leaned into Gale and picked up his regular scent of the woods and musk. It was a comforting scent; so familiar. It was one of the things that made me feel at home. I was starting to feel glad that I came home.

"Before you say anything Katniss can I say something?" I turned to look up Gale half expecting him to let me go but he didn't, and I was kind of glad he didn't. This was the human attention that I had been craving for since Prim wasn't here to give it anymore. I made myself comfortable and nodded.

"I know I've done a lot of things, stupid things, and that I neglected you by leaving for district two but I came back in the hopes of fixing things between us. I ended up making things worse and totally screwed things up by getting into that fight with Peeta and I'm still not too sure that it wasn't me that hit you. I just want to say that I'm really sorry; I can't tell you how sorry. But I really want to be here for you from now on. And I know you said that you didn't think that you could ever be in a relationship with me but I love you Katniss. There's nothing I would love more than to be able to take that chance with you Katniss, but I need you to give me a chance. Just one chance. Please." I looked away from Gale, this was all so sudden. Obviously that two and a half break had given him something to think about too. True, I told Gale that I never wanted to be in a relationship, yet the games forced me into one with Peeta. I never wanted to have kids, yet, the games tried to put that on me too. I wanted to stay in district 12 and continue my life with Gale being my best friend and being able to provide for my family in doing what I loved but again, that was taken from me too. I was out of the Hunger games yet I still let it go and ruin my life. I knew that there were going to be continuing difficulties. I would probably be like Haymitch, afraid to sleep because of the plaguing nightmares, and like Peeta because I was sure that like him, I had gone a little insane too but shouldn't it be time for me to try to move on? I was sure of how I felt about Gale now and I've always known how he's felt about me. So why not give it a shot and see how things went? I think it was time that he finally got something he deserved.

"I think. . . I think we can give things a try." I said in a small voice. Gale stared at me for a moment as if I was a new person but he recovered quickly. A huge smile spread over his face and before I knew what was happening he pulled my face to his and kissed me lightly. I rested my head against his shoulder and we watched the snow fall. I think we would be okay for now.


	24. Chapter 24

There was more snow today, lots of it too. Temperatures were below freezing and I had a hard enough time trying to bring in firewood, so I knew no one would be going anywhere anytime soon. I was building the fire in the fireplace of the living room when I heard light footsteps behind me. I turned to see Katniss descending the stairs, a blanket pulled tightly around her shoulders. "This sucks." I stifled a laugh. I told Katniss to come downstairs with me a long time ago but she claimed she was fine in her room and had been there for the past two hours or so.

"Your fireplace went out again?"

"Yup," she said sitting on the chair closest to the fireplace. "So now I'm cold and bored."

"I think I can fix that."

x-x-x-x-x

"Yes! Oh yeah! Right there," Katniss panted. I wiped my brow and watched the smile on her face grow wider. "Right there, see that," Katniss pointed to the ball of socks that were against my wall. "That means I scored again, and that means I won again; fifth game in a row."

"You cheated," I said plainly. She had to; there was no way she had beaten me at five rounds of sock soccer in a row. Not unless she was some insane soccer playing prodigy.

"What? Do you want another rematch?" I shook my head.

"Let's just rest for a moment." Katniss happily fell onto a pile of pillows. I took off my sweater and sat on the floor. Running around the living room with a blazing fire hadn't been my brightest idea. It took a few minutes of sitting still to cool off and then we were okay. "Hey Katniss," I said as a thought hit me. She turned to face me and arched a brow. "How do you think things would be different if I had volunteered to take Peeta's place?" She gave me a funny look and rolled onto her back.

"Well, we probably would've made it to the top two. Knowing you, you would've found some way to get yourself killed so I could win. . . Why are you asking this anyhow?"

"I was just wondering."

"Well don't. There's no reason to," Katniss snapped. I just kind of looked at Katniss for a second before saying softly,

"I just wonder sometimes if maybe things wouldn't be so hard on you now if I had gone in like I wanted to. Maybe things would've been better."

"Gale, district twelve would still be the same. Everyone would still be enslaved by the Capitol. I would be stuck here alone because you would be dead. How does that seem like a better situation than this?" Katniss sat up and looked at me, tears in her eyes.

"Well Prim and your mother would still be here."

"Ok so having Prim would be better but she wouldn't be living with me for much longer anyhow; she'd have to move back to the seam. And I haven't needed my mother for years, that's why she's not here now. Gale it. . ." Katniss balled up her hands and slowly unfurled them. "Can we not talk about this anymore? What's done is done, we can't change anything. Let's just find something else to talk about."

"Sorry."

"It's ok." Katniss wiped at her eyes. "Wanna race?"

"Didn't we learn anything from running around the first time?"

"Nope." Katniss grinned.

We spent a while running down the hall and sliding, trying to see who could go the furthest. Then we played a game of marco polo beacuse we were bored but it was kind of pointless because we found each other after about two seconds. Finally, I just settled myself onto the couch and stared up at the ceiling while Katniss got dinner started. "Crap!" She yelled just as the power went out. She muttered something unintelligble and a few minutes later brought the pot over to the fireplace. She went to the kitchen to get the rest of what she needed and came back. She was about to hang the pot over the fire when snow randomly fell down the chimney and extinguished the fire.

"What the hell?"

"Let me start the fire again," I said nudging her out of the way. I got the fire up to a nice blaze and more snow fell down the chimney. "Really?" I asked quietly starting the fire again, only for it to go out a third time.

"Forget it." Katniss said putting everything back in the kitchen. "Sorry Gale, no dinner tonight."

"Wouldn't be the first time." I shrugged my shoulders. "Might as well go to bed, it's getting dark and there's not much we can do with the power out."

"True, where are we going to sleep though? It's too cold in our rooms and the fire won't stay in here."

"I'll get a fire going in the bedroom down here. You go ahead and get your stuff."

**Katniss's Point of View**

The room was nice and toasty when I walked through the door. Gale had just finished putting extra blankets on the bed. "I'm gonna go change." He said walking past me. I sat on the end of the bed. I know this was totally stupid, but I was kind of nervous about sleeping in the same bed as Gale. I had done it before when I couldn't sleep, but now we were a couple and I guess I was over thinking it and freaking myself out. He came back a few minutes later dressed in his pajamas. He hopped onto the bed and put his arms behind his head with a deep sigh.

"Come on Katniss," Gale patted the bed next to him. I hesitated for a moment before climbing up next to Gale and laying down. He pulled the coverse up over us and I found the weight of them comforting. I rolled onto my stomach and rested my head on my arm. I was more tired than I thought and found myself drifting off easily.

x-x-x-x-x

"Dad! Dad Run! No, no don't go back for him! Daddy!" I bolted upright, gasping for air. I pressed a hand to my chest to calm my fluttering heart before reaching up with the other shaky hand to wipe away tears that had started falling in my sleep. Beside me Gale stirred a little before suddenly sitting up. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close.

"It's okay, you're okay. Calm down, everything's fine. Breathe Katniss, breathe," he crooned softly. Even though I was sobbing, I listenend to him and tried to match my breathing with his. It took a while but I calmed down enough to stop crying.

"I'm sorry," I said shakily. "I didn't mean to wake you." I felt really bad. First I snapped at him and now he couldn't even sleep in peace because of this. I wasn't being exceptionally nice today.

"Don't worry about it. You alright now?" I nodded but didn't really feel much better. Gale laid back down and took me with him. He wrapped one arm around me and gently pushed the hair from my eyes. I took a shuddering breath and pressed my face into Gale's shirt. Even though I wasn't there and I didn't quite know what happened to my dad, I always seemed to imagine the worst case scenario in my sleep. I didn't want to but I couldn't help it. My lids were heavy but I forced myself to stay awake; I didn't think I could handle another nightmare. "Go to sleep Katniss," Gale said gently running his fingers though my hair. "And if you have another bad dream I'll be here."


End file.
